Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro with Carl Hester and Alan Davies during Valegro's retirement ceremony during the London International Horse Show at Olympia in 2016.
In our 104th weekly episode of The Horse & Hound Podcast, supported by NAF, H&H’s Polly Bryan talks to super-groom Alan Davies, who works for dressage royalty Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin. On this week’s episode he reminisces about Valero’s retirement ceremony and more. H&H’s Pippa Roome and the H&H team then discuss making decisions on vet treatment of horses, a boost of government money to improve participation in horse sport and a new British Dressage system for training judges. Finally, we’ll hear from two vets; Rick Farr from Farr & Pursey Equine and the Royal Veterinary College’s Andy Fiske-Jackson. They give us a light-hearted look into the smelly side of a vet’s life. We hope you’ll enjoy listening.
Episode 104 of The Horse & Hound Podcast, supported by NAF, our popular audio service available every Thursday morning for our H&H digital subscribers, is now live.
Each episode is available for all H&H fans to listen to via your favourite podcast app 24hrs after its early release to our H&H digital subscribers. Search for “The Horse & Hound Podcast” in your preferred podcast app and click subscribe to be notified about each new episode. This will allow more listeners to make The Horse & Hound Podcast an essential part of their week on Friday morning.
In our 104th weekly episode of The Horse & Hound Podcast, supported by NAF, H&H’s Polly Bryan talks to super-groom Alan Davies, who works for dressage royalty Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin. On this week’s episode he reminisces about Valero’s retirement ceremony and much more.
“That was some emotional rollercoaster – they didn’t tell me until the last minute that they wanted me to lead him in on my own – the thought of doing that with him was just unbelievable” – Alan Davies on the moment Valegro was retired
H&H’s Pippa Roome and the H&H team then discuss making decisions on vet treatment of horses, a boost of government money to improve participation in horse sport and a new British Dressage system for training judges.
“One of the topics at the conference asked the question ‘where is the line in the sand when it comes to treating horses?’” – H&H’s senior news writer Lucy Elder on making decisions on vet treatment of horses
Finally, we’ll hear from two vets; Rick Farr from Farr & Pursey Equine and the Royal Veterinary College’s Andy Fiske-Jackson. They give us a light-hearted look into the smelly side of a vet’s life.
“That smell lingers in the back of your nose and you can wash off but still everyone is looking at you wondering what it is” – Rick Farr
We would love to hear your feedback on all our podcasts, so please do send your thoughts to pippa.roome@futurenet.com
Horse & Hound Podcast: episode 104
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
